A computer user or operator typically employs a computer system having an installed computer-aided drafting software system (“drafting system”), to draw an object on a computer monitor or display screen. The drafting system employs a cursor on the computer monitor screen to depict a current position on a drawing field, and the operator uses a cursor manipulator such as a computer mouse, joystick, puck, roller ball device or the like, to manipulate the cursor on the computer display and drawing field. The user thus utilizes such an input device to transform a relative coordinate field (i.e., a digitizing surface or mouse pad) to an absolute coordinate field (the design, in whole or in part that is displayed on the screen). For example, a three dimensional design may be represented even though the digitizing surface is two-dimensional.
Modern computer drafting systems typically provide a user interface consisting of various items, including collections of icons that facilitate the drawing, modification, and manipulation of elements that represent real world information. Such drafting systems typically include tool settings that not only contribute to data input, but aid in manipulating and modifying design data that originated from various sources. Accordingly, the user selectively chooses icons and tool settings to interconnect multiple numbers of dimensioned drawing elements to form a shaped object. For example, a computer user may construct a box-like object from a number of line elements, each line element having a selected length and position and being interconnected to at least one other line element.
The drawing field may extend beyond the confines of the computer display screen such that only a portion of the drawing field is displayed. The drawing field may be defined according to a universal coordinate system, such as a rectangular or polar coordinate system, where the drawing field has a single origin and each point in the drawing field has a unique coordinate. Accordingly, a computer user can position each element in the drawing field according to the universal coordinate system.
When a drawing element or tool is chosen, a modal or non-modal dialog box containing tool settings and other options usually appears on the drawing field. Modal dialog boxes require all user interactions to be focused within the dialog box, and usually include an OK button and/or a Cancel button. Modal dialog boxes are used when an application, utility, tool, command or other means requires information before the application can continue, such as a file name, or when a complete set of information is required before proceeding, or when a message such as an alert or warning is given. Modal dialog boxes must be dismissed or closed before the user can proceed with further actions. Conversely, non-modal dialog boxes permit a user to interact with other dialog boxes or other parts of an application, such as with drawing tools. The controls in non-modal dialog boxes can be adjusted at any time, and non-modal dialog boxes do not have to be closed or dismissed before continuing work. It has been noted that non-modal dialog boxes improve design productivity because the user spends more time working on a computer drawing in comparison to users of design software that include modal dialog boxes, because modal dialog boxes require time and effort to open and close before proceeding with work.
However, any type of dialog box may sometimes impinge upon display screen real estate space, and must either be minimized, dismissed or otherwise moved in order to work on a sketch or other work-in-progress appearing on that part of the computer display screen. Thus, there is a need for providing a method to temporarily hide or shrink non-modal dialog boxes so that a computer operator is free to use a maximum amount of workspace, in order to further improve productivity.